Minister insists UK is on track to meet its Kyoto targets as emissions fall 2%

Published Date: 27 March 2009

BRITAIN'S greenhouse gas emissions fell 2 per cent in 2008. Statistics from the Department for Energy and Climate Change show that UK emissions are now about a fifth lower than they were in 1990.
Joan Ruddock, the energy and climate change minister, said it was clear the UK would meet its targets under the Kyoto Protocol.It had pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 per cent by 2012. But she acknowledged the country would have to do more to maintain its leadership on climate change globally."Our Climate Change Act is a world first. It will bind this and future governments to increasingly ambitious carbon budgets, the first three of which will be set out alongside the Budget next month," she said."Everyone will have a part to play, from government and businesses down to each of us in our homes," she added.Greg Clark, the shadow energy and climate change secretary, said the government would miss its target to reduce carbon dioxide by 20 per cent by 2010. "Over the last 11 years, Labour have managed to cut UK emissions by just 3.6 per cent," he said.Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrats' energy and climate spokesman, accused the government of taking "baby steps" and said radical action was needed to avert the catastrophic consequences of climate change.The head of climate change for Greenpeace, Robin Oakley, said the reduction was solely because we were using more gas and less coal to generate power – and emissions had actually risen under Labour. He hit out at plans to build new fossil-fuel power stations in the UK.